Each year athletes have their careers ruined by inadvertent doping. Research has shown that up to one in ten supplements sold on the market are contaminated with some form of steroid or stimulant prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Causes can include cross-contamination during manufacturing and poor raw ingredient sourcing. Beyond concerns for contamination, there is also evidence of significant health risks associated with the use of supplements.

Athletes and their support personnel must understand the risks an athlete assumes when using these products. Strict Liability applies, and athletes are solely responsible for anything they use, attempt to use or is found in their system, regardless of how it got there and whether there was an intention to cheat or not.

Our advice

Before you take a supplement you should:

Assess the need - all athletes should seek advice from a medical professional or nutritionist on their need to use supplement products

Assess the risk - undertake thorough research of all supplement products you are considering taking

Assess the consequences - you could receive a four-year ban

You can reduce your risk by:

undertaking thorough internet research

only using batch-tested products

look for third-party certification, but also evaluate the limits of each program. No program is perfect, and certification is not a guarantee that the product is safe or free from prohibited substances.

you should know that WADA does not certify, approve, endorse, or guarantee any supplement. Some products on the market imply, or state directly, that they are WADA certified or approved, but they are not.

As a reminder, the use of any dietary supplement is at your own risk.

Substance and Supplements Research

Global Dro

Supplement 411

The Global Drug Reference Online (Global DRO) provides athletes and support personnel with information about the prohibited status of specific medications based on the current World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List. Global DRO is brought to you through a partnership between UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), Anti-Doping Switzerland (ADCH) and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) are official Global DRO licensees.

USADA’s dietary supplement safety education and awareness resource. The reality is that the use of dietary supplements can be risky, and that awareness, caution, education, and common sense must be exercised when considering their use. The resources of Supplement 411 will help you gain a better understanding of the dietary supplement issue

Informed Sport

Informed Choice

Informed-Sport is a quality assurance program for sports nutrition products, suppliers to the sports nutrition industry, and supplement manufacturing facilities. The program certifies that all nutritional supplements and/or ingredients that bear the Informed-Sport logo have been tested for banned substances by the world class sports anti-doping laboratory, LGC. Athletes choosing to use supplements can use the search function above to find products that have been through this rigorous certification process.

Informed-Choice is a quality assurance program for sports nutrition products, suppliers to the sports nutrition industry, and supplement manufacturing facilities. The program certifies that nutritional supplements and/or ingredients that bear the Informed-Choice logo have been tested monthly for banned substances by the world class sports anti-doping lab, LGC. Supplement users can use the search function above to find products that have been through this certification process.

NADAmed

NSF

The intention behind the NADAmed medicine database is to provide both athletes and support staff with fast, easily accessible information on the doping-relevance of medicines. The database contains a selection of frequently prescribed medications, or those which are frequently inquired about.

NSF Certified for Sport: NSF Certified for Sport's objective is to certify that participating sports supplement manufacturers have met NSF’s stringent independent certification process guidelines, which were developed through a consensus process involving regulatory, sports industry and consumer groups. A key component of this program is an NSF Mark on each product label, to show athletes, coaches and consumers that a sports supplement has met NSF's comprehensive Certified for Sport® program guidelines.